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Man shot by police in stable condition after downtown holdup

Police shot a man Wednesday on Bloor St. E. after an incident where a shop owner says a gun was pointed at his head.

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Insp. Robert Johnson on a police firearm was discharged inside the Rexall, 34-year-old man suffered life-threatening injuries and armed holdup at a Sherbourne St. convenience store near Howard St.(Keith Beaty/Toronto Star)

By Jackie HongStaff Reporterand Katrina ClarkeStaff Reporters

Wed., Jan. 7, 2015

The man police shot Wednesday morning has been upgraded to stable condition, according to the Special Investigations Unit.

The 34-year-old man was shot by Toronto police in the abdomen and leg at a Bloor St. E. pharmacy Wednesday morning, according to a statement released by the SIU. The shots came after police responded to a call around 8:30 a.m. about an armed holdup at a Sherbourne St. convenience store near Howard St. The suspect fled and headed to Bloor St. E.

Police say they found an individual matching his description and carrying a gun at the Rexall Pharma Plus in a Bloor St. E. plaza, police said.

“An interaction occurred between members of the Toronto Police Service and this individual. As a result, a police firearm was discharged,” Insp. Robert Johnson told media outside the pharmacy.

Police confirmed said the incident began at the nearby Handy Variety convenience store, where a customer produced a black handgun and “made demands.” Shop owner Ilesh Patel, 42, told the Star the gunman held the gun to his head — so close it almost touched his skin.

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“I was calm. I just told my worker, ‘Give him one pack (of cigarettes) and whatever he wants,’ ” said the Handy Variety convenience store owner.

A man shot by police during a pharmacy holdup is taken to St. Michael's Hospital on Wednesday morning. (Victor Biro photo / Victor Biro photo)

Patel said the man had been a regular customer for the past two years and he often bought cigarettes. He had never behaved badly, he said.

But in the early hours Wednesday before the holdup, the man came into the store twice — once at 1 a.m. and once between 2 to 3 a.m. — and demanded free cigarettes, said Patel. After he was denied the second time, he allegedly told the cashier, “If I come with gun, then what?” he said.

When Patel was in the shop at 8:30 a.m., the man came in a third time and again demanded cigarettes on credit from the cashier, who refused him, Patel said.

The man then asked for the owner — Patel — and told him he would pay him back in a few days, he said. Patel told him “no,” but asked his co-worker to give the man two free cigarettes from his personal pack.

The man told him, “You have five seconds,” said Patel, adding the man pulled back and forth at the top of the gun, as though he were about to shoot.

Patel said he thought of his family — a wife and two teenage boys — and his co-worker.

“That’s why I didn’t want to retaliate,” he said. “But suddenly — like in a few seconds — he left.”

Police shot the man inside the Rexall Pharma Plus, Johnson confirmed. He did not know if there were other people in the pharmacy at the time, if there was a second holdup at the pharmacy or how many shots were fired.

Toronto paramedics responded to a call at the pharmacy at 8:39 a.m. where they found the man with gunshots to the torso and leg. He was taken to St. Michael’s Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The man’s injuries were non-life-threatening by Wednesday afternoon, the SIU said.

“No member of the Toronto Police Service was injured in this,” Johnson told media.

Police were still on scene mid-morning Wednesday, looking through security footage at the basement convenience store, Patel said. The shop was closed and yellow police tape was draped across the entrance.

Around the corner on Bloor St. E., police officers were seen inside the Rexall Pharma Plus holding evidence bags. The plaza, which also contains a No Frills and McDonald’s, was closed off.

Police also blocked traffic on Bloor St. E. from Huntley St. to Sherbourne St. for most of the morning.

Mike, who works in the area and declined to give his last name, said he was walking through the mall just before 9 a.m. to get coffee when a No Frills employee told him not to go any further because there was a man with a gun inside the pharmacy.

“He was, like, running, pounding on his glass because he had already closed up,” he said. “He said, ‘Don’t you go down there. There’s a guy waving a gun in the Pharma Plus.’ ”

Mike said he saw two police officers with their guns drawn, but pointing down, inside the plaza.

“At that point I was like, wow, this is getting really serious,” he said.

The SIU is now investigating. The arm’s-length agency is called to investigate when interactions between police and civilians result in serious injury or death.

It has assigned six investigators and two forensic investigators to the case, according to a news release.

The name of the victim will not be released, said an SIU spokesperson, adding either the victim or his family asked that it not be released.

Patel said the man — whose name he did not know — took nothing from the store and did not yell or use aggressive language. Patel called the police immediately after the man left.

He said he wouldn’t even call the incident attempted robbery, adding that customers often use aggressive language in his store.

Patel said he’s not dwelling on the incident and doesn’t have anything to say to the man police shot.

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